'HE FARM AND THE NATION. 



It is passing strange that a terrible conflict, which has 

 brought this country to the very verge of starvation, should 

 have been necessary to convince us, that after all the farm 

 is, or ought to be, something more than an isolated and un- 

 organized unit in the production of essential foods for the 

 people of this country. 



The State has permitted farmers in the past, to carry 

 on their business more or less unmolested, hence the money 

 returns to be derived from any system of farming, have 

 determined to a large extent, the particular system which 

 would be adopted ; and who could blame them, when busi- 

 ness men generally, were allowed to do the very same thing ? 



Speaking generally, the Farmer's concern was not so 

 much to produce the maximum amount of Food for the 

 Nation, as to make a living ; although incidentally, he did 

 produce a considerable amount of food for the country. 

 The State had never demanded that the Farmer's main 

 function should be the production of essential Foods: but to 

 a limited extent, supply and demand in a world market, 

 did determine very roughly the stock a Farmer would keep 

 and the crops he would grow. 



At the same time it does not follow that in a world 

 market the British Public Would be prepared to pay a suffi- 

 cient price to encourage the Home production of all the prin- 

 cipal Food stuffs required : hence the difficulty in which we 

 found ourselves at the commencement of the war, due to 

 this country having relied to such a large extent on other 

 nations for essential foods like wheat. 



